Pilot Study of a Novel Role-Playing Game-Based Social Skills Intervention for Autistic Adolescents

Friendships are valuable for autistic adolescents, yet differences in social communication and interaction skills may impede the development of meaningful connections. Accessible and motivating interventions are needed to support adolescents in building skills for social success. This mixed methods pilot study examined the preliminary outcomes, feasibility, and acceptability of Guild Chronicles (GC), a novel roleplaying game-based social skills intervention, on improving social skills and self-esteem and decreasing loneliness. Nine autistic adolescents (Mage=14.26) participated in the 8-week group intervention that was delivered via Discord, an online communication system. GC invites participants into a fantasy world in which they imagine themselves as heroes and collaboratively engage in adventurous quests, while receiving social coaching. Adolescents and caregivers completed measures at baseline, post-intervention, and three-month follow-up. Adolescents also participated in semi-structured interviews, which were coded via inductive thematic analysis. Findings revealed significant improvements in overall social skills from baseline to follow-up. Loneliness significantly decreased from baseline to post-intervention and gains were maintained at follow-up. Improvements in self-esteem were not significant. Session attendance and facilitator fidelity were high, indicating feasibility. Quantitative and qualitative acceptability results were positive, including high ratings of enjoyability and feelings of group acceptance. Qualitatively, autistic adolescents reported a generally positive impact on skills and self-esteem, satisfaction with the intervention experience, recommendations for future iterations, and highlighted intervention elements perceived to be especially helpful. The study provides preliminary support for GC in improving social skills and reducing loneliness among autistic adolescents. Given the small sample size, large-scale randomized controlled studies are warranted.